Five years ago people were furious as gas prices crept up closer to the $2-per-gallon range. Now that gasoline prices have dipped below $2 a gallon for the first time in quite a while, people are filling their gas tanks to the brim.

“I love it a lot. I can ride more, I know that,” Alex Plummer of Sandersville said as he pumped gas into his car at the Shell station on Ellisville Boulevard just off Interstate 59 on exit 93.

Plummer said he can now afford to do a little more driving. “I try to keep a full tank now.”

Bill Culpepper, owner of Lakeside Grocery on Highway 84 East, said he has noticed a few more customers than usual this past week.

“A lot of customers said they have appreciated seeing the prices down,” Culpepper said. “I tell them not to expect it to stay there.”

On Monday, USA Today reported the national average for gas prices was $2.16 a gallon. It has been significantly lower in the Laurel area.

Culpepper’s station had one of the lower prices in the area. Culpepper said the price for regular unleaded gasoline on Friday was $1.92 a gallon at his station.

Darlene Jones of Laurel hopes gasoline prices do not stop dropping.

“It can go a whole lot lower. It can go down to 98 cents a gallon, and I’ll be happy,” Jones said.

Jones said the gasoline prices do affect her driving habits, anyway.

“If it gets down to half-full, I fill it back up,” Jones said.